Sudan Campaign - Akasha

The Battle of Akasha has taken place on the 4th turn of the campaign. Egyptian forces have moved south again as they fight their way to Khartoum. The Egyptians have had a run of luck beating back every assault from the Mahdi. They have now encamped at Akasha and have awakened to the sound of the sentries calling the alarm.

As you can see the dervishes have started very close to the perimeter but they are spread outmaking a consolidated attack difficult. The Egyptians are surrounded but get a defensive bonus that proved very critical in the fight to come. If the dervish break through they can kill any wounded they come in contact with which would cripple the relief effort, they must hold at all costs.

The dervish cavalry was held to punch through at a critical moment when needed. Here we see camels employed to support an Ansar advance against the southern facing of the camp.They were part of 3 tribes attacking the one area. They are good troops but against fixed defensive positions they had a hard time.

The Egyptians are really in the thick of it. The camels are pushed to the breach as the Egyptians put up a steady fire. A mass attack of Ansars is also stretching the defenders to their limit. The Egyptians had to shift their defenses to close the breach.

Wave after wave of Ansars attack, the fighting has resorted to hand to hand combat. The very survival of the relief column hangs in the balance. The +1 modifier for defending the terrain proved to be the crucial factor. The dervish infantry just couldn't pull off the deciding blow to break the line.

The Naval Brigade was positioned on the North side of the camp. It did not see much action as it it would be too dificult for the dervishes to deal with. The gun would eventually be repositioned to repel Mahdist rifle units in the eastern hills. A very effective weapon to eliminate waves of crazed tribesmen.

Egyptian infantry started taking casualties, the wounded and dead begin to pile up. The Egyptians managed to hold on as the Ansar could not deliver the death blow to their enemy. This battle proved to be the turning point of the game. The Ansar did not take many casualties, they were pushed back by the Egyptians. They had trouble rallying to go at the Imperial dogs once again.

The camp was saved , the last few dervish units skirmish to cover the retreat. Once again the Egyptians have defied the odds and beaten an enemy many times their number. It looks like the Egyptians will beat the British to Khartoum, unless something goes terribly wrong, but what are the chances of that?

Now it's time to count the dead and wounded, the Egyptians are slowly being eroded away in a game of attrition. The Northern district is being handled well, but the real test lies further south. Since the southern district has a higher revolt index there should be considerably more Mahdist tribes rising up to repel the hated infidels. Now on to turn 5.